[These men and women could be told to cut a tree stump from the ground, then lug it through muddy trenches covered in barbed wire and up a hiking trail. Or they might be ordered to run up a steep 2,000-foot mountain, memorize a list of American presidents, and run back down to recite the list, knowing that failure means another trip back to the top. Or they might have to eat pound after pound of raw onions. And not only will they have to endure all those chores—or their equivalent, for the race’s challenges are new each year. They’ll do it in a competition that could stretch on for 24, 48, or even 72 hours, with no set finish line and no idea of what might be coming next. And they’ll do it all with the race’s creators taunting them, telling them they don’t have what it takes to stick it out.]http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/06/21/a-marathon-to-make-you-quake.html